


Feathers of Brass

by bluetoast



Series: Birds of a Feather [41]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Deaf Dean Winchester, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 08:34:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1598459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluetoast/pseuds/bluetoast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean's not too worried about being alone with eighteen month old Liesel for the weekend while Ignacia travels for work. That was before his daughter finally discovered that her daddy can't hear her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feathers of Brass

The crowd in the San Jose airport was insane. Dean had never liked the crowds in airports and it seemed more congested than the normal chaos to him. Then again, this was the area before the security checkpoint, so he imagined it was not as bad on the other side. At least Liesel was being good about being carried and not demanding to be allowed to walk. In this crowd, Dean knew she'd get lost fast. She was so small, most people thought she was barely one. 

_“She should be good, she had a good nap this morning.”_ Ignacia shouldered her bag, looking a little more relaxed than Dean thought possible. _“I'm sorry about this being so last minute.”_

 _“Hey, these things happen.”_ Dean still couldn't get over the way that Ignacia tended to apologize for things beyond her control. His wife was headed for Salt Lake City, for the Junior National Trials. Normally, coaching at competitions weren't something she participated in. But the assistant coach, who had been scheduled to go with the girls had a death in the family and couldn't attend. Ignacia had been drafted to take her place, knowing more about these sort of competitions than some the other coaches. He adjusted his hold on Liesel, shifting her more onto his hip and kissed Ignacia on the cheek. “Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. It's just for a few days.” 

Ignacia shook her head. “Now, don't go feeding her a bunch of junk food and don't let her stay up too late. She needs to stay on that sleep schedule.”

He gave his wife a look. “I thought _I_ was the one who had to tell _you_ not to feed her too many sweets. She can con a cookie from you far easier than she can from me. And if you don't get going, you're going to miss your flight.”

“You're incorrigible.” Ignacia said, and then said something in Romanian he couldn't understand. She kissed his cheeks and then their daughter's. “I love you both. Be good.” She said to Liesel and turned to him. “You behave as well!” 

Dean gave her a swift kiss. “Love you too. Don't work too hard.”

“You know me.” She grinned and held a finger to his lips, cutting off the retort of – _that's exactly what I mean –_ before he could say it. She picked up her bag and headed down towards the security point. “Bye bye!”

“Bye mama!” Liesel waved her hand, repeating the words in sign language.

Dean waved as well, relieved that the girl hadn't burst into tears with her mom's departure. As soon as Ignacia was out of sight, however, the girl threw her arms around his neck and buried her face against him and he felt her whimper. “Yeah, home sounds like a good idea.” He turned and made his way through the crowd, trying to tell himself it was just for a few days and that he and Lis would be fine at home. He was done with classes for the week, all he had to do was type up a few lab reports and read several chapters in a couple of textbooks. 

If he couldn't handle being alone with Liesel for four days, that was pretty pathetic.

*  
It was amazing how easy it was to keep Liesel amused. Dean didn't think anything of giving his little girl a wooden spoon and an empty pasta pot to play with while he worked on his lab reports. She sat contentedly in the middle of the living room, hammering away at the underside of the pot for all she was worth and babbling a song thought it might have been 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' but her words were jumbled – she kept switching back from English to Romanian. He wasn't going to let her play with the pot all night, just until dinnertime. He had just saved the first report when something hit him hard on the leg. He jerked to the side to see Liesel wielding the spoon, her eyes wide with shock. 

Liesel had hit him with the spoon. Why?

“We don't hit.” He said and signed, taking the spoon from her. “Hitting is bad.” 

She blinked up at him with those blue eyes he'd never seen in any face but hers and she bit her bottom lip. _“Hungry.”_ She reached for the spoon, which he set on the table, and predictably, her face twisted into a grimace. _“Hungry.”_ She signed again. 

“We don't hit.” Dean said again, and then checked the time. It was nearly seven. They should have eaten dinner more than an hour ago. No wonder she'd hit him, she'd been waiting for dinner and smacking him on the leg with the spoon had been a way to get his attention. He gave her back the spoon and ruffled her hair before picking her up and setting her in her high chair. “You're right. It's dinner time.” 

Thankfully, it didn't take long to heat up the leftover casserole from last night, and Liesel was content to feed herself apple slices while they waited. He had to wonder if the little girl had called his name several times and he hadn't replied. It wasn't as if he and Ignacia had ever told their little girl outright that 'daddy can't hear' – how was she supposed to understand that at her age? With his parents living on the other side of the country, he was the only deaf person she spent time with. The only reason she could easily identify her grandparents was because he and Ignacia regularly went through a photo album and pointed people out. 

Dean slowly ate his own serving of casserole, watching as Liesel picked her serving apart and ate the chicken first, then the rice and vegetables. Thankfully, what she didn't eat stayed on the tray and didn't end up on the floor. The same could not be said for her sippy-cup, which she dropped on the floor several times – all of them on purpose – to watch the red plastic cup fall and then she clapped her hands at the noise, he supposed. After the fourth time she dropped it, however, he didn't retrieve it, even when she leaned over and reached for it. “No, no... we're not playing that game tonight.” He shook his head. _“All done?”_

 _“Cookie!”_ Liesel grinned at him, her face bright. _“Cookie, daddy?”_

Dean nodded, retrieved a cookie from the bread drawer and handed it to her. “ _Cookie for Liesel.”_

Liesel took the cookie in one hand. _“Thank you!”_ She signed before stuffing half of the treat into her mouth at once. 

_“You're welcome.”_ He smiled and watched her finish before he cleaned her off and set her down. “Can you bring me the pot?” He pointed to the other room. She scurried into the living room and was back with her makeshift drum in a minute. He took it from her and set it on the counter. _“Thank you.”_ He watched her go back into the other room and pull out her box of giant Lego blocks. 

This wasn't so hard. He didn't know why Ignacia had been so worried about the two of them being alone.

*

Dean didn't even know it was storming until the power went out. He jerked upright at the table, blinking as lightning illuminated the room for a moment and then was gone. He was glad that he'd finished working with the computer and had turned it off. He squinted at his watch – it was nearly eleven. Liesel had been asleep for... 

Panic seized him and he made his way through the apartment, glad that there wasn't much furniture to trip over and opened the door of the small room that was his daughter's. Sure enough, the girl was shaking the rail of her crib, screaming and crying for all she was worth. He didn't even pause, he went across the room and pulled her out, feeling terrible. How long had she been crying? He bounced her slightly, trying to calm her down.

“It's okay, you're safe, I've got you.” He went over to the rocker and sat down, making small soothing noises. Another flash of lightning and he felt the house shake a fraction of a moment later. “Sssh. I won't let the storm get you. You're safe.” He repeated and he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the tears start. He hadn't heard her cries, he hadn't known she was screaming for the comfort he hadn't known she needed. How often would this happen in his daughter's life? When she was sick, scared or lost – how was he going to know when his baby was calling out to him? Of course, when she was older, Liesel would understand that he couldn't hear her – but for now? It was a wretched, awful feeling. “I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner.” He set the chair in motion, feeling the girl's terrified wails fall into sobs, punctuated with hiccups. 

Dean closed his eyes and kept rocking his little girl, the sick feeling in his stomach barely going away as Liesel calmed down and slowly, slowly drifted back to sleep. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding as the lightning flashed again, hoping that tomorrow morning, things would be better. He drifted off to sleep, knowing that if another storm struck, he'd know right away if Liesel was awake.

*

When he settled her on the rug with her toys the next morning, Dean made sure to put Liesel right in his field of vision, so he could look up every few minutes to check on her. Every time he looked up, she was busy with something, completely ignoring him. He was halfway through reading the effects of anti-neoplastic drugs when he looked up and saw that Liesel was gone. Scattered on the rug were her toy xylophone, a toy tambourine – and the pot and spoon from yesterday. He hadn't even known she'd gone into the kitchen and retrieved them. 

“Liesel?” He stood up and went into the kitchen. The room was empty, but one of the drawers was open. Panic seized him as he went over to it and looked inside – the only thing missing out of it were the kitchen scissors. “Lis!” Dean ran out of the kitchen and stopped short when he reached the doorway of his daughter's room, just in time to watch her hack the ears off of a stuffed dog. “Liesel Andrea Coulter!”

The little girl jumped and the dog and the scissors fell to the floor. She looked up at him, her lower lip trembling. 

Dean grabbed the scissors and put them on top of the dresser out of her reach as he stood up. Then he saw that almost all of his daughter's stuffed animals were lying on the floor – all of them had their ears cut off. “That was very naughty!” He couldn't imagine what had gotten into his daughter's head.

Tears were streaming down Liesel's face, her face twisted in fear. “Daddy hear Liesel?”

Dean crouched down, all anger completely gone. He never exactly planned on how he was going to explain to Liesel that he was deaf, or maybe he just took it for granted that she might already know, or something. He felt his own tears starting. “Liesel....” He closed his eyes, swallowed hard and then opened them again. “Daddy can't hear.”

“Daddy can't hear?” She reached out and tugged his ear and while she gave it a good jerk, he did his best not to show that it hurt. “Ears not work?”

“Ears not work.” He fought back the urge to weep. “Liesel's ears work.”

“Mommy's ears?” Now Liesel looked terrified. The mere fact that she somehow understood was remarkable.

“Mommy's ears work.” He brushed a tear off of her cheek and then pointed to his eyes. “Daddy's ears.”

That she didn't seem to comprehend. “Eyes.” She pointed to her own, still wet with tears. “Liesel sees.”

“Yes. Liesel's eyes.” He took a breath and took her hands in his. “Daddy sees words.”

She shook her head. “Liesel doesn't see.”

“Yes, yes you do see words.” This was getting a little easier, as much as it was breaking his heart. _“Liesel sees words. Daddy sees words. Mommy sees words.”_

Her lower lip was trembling again. _“Hand words?”_

 _“Yes!”_ Dean smiled through his tears. _“Words in hands.”_ He picked her up and hugged her, going back to the rocking chair and setting her in his lap. He wasn't even going to think about punishing her for attacking her stuffed animals. _“ABC's?”_ Liesel nodded and began to sign the alphabet, singing the song at the same time, but only made it as far as 'L' before she started to cry and he embraced her, letting her have her tears. A moment later, he also began to weep.

*  
Ignacia let herself into the apartment, exhausted. It was just after eleven at night, and her coworker had driven her home so Dean wouldn't have to either keep or wake Liesel up to come to the airport to pick her up. She covered a yawn and locked the door behind her, glad to be home. Two girls from their gym had made the team and she wasn't sure if she would have to go to the Nationals competition in a few weeks. She rubbed her eyes and walked into the living room and stopped short. Liesel was asleep on the couch, the majority of her stuffed animals placed around her. Dean was sitting next to her, patiently sewing an ear back onto one of their daughter's plush animals. When she looked at the table in front of the couch, she saw a few of the remaining animals, all of them missing their ears. 

“What in the name of...” She looked at Dean, who set the bear down and came over and kissed her. 

“Welcome home.” He hugged her. “Safe flight?”

“Yes...” She looked back at the animals. _“What happened?”_

 _“Liesel found out I'm deaf.”_ He let out a sigh. _“It's all right.”_

 _“Did she do all of that?”_ She indicated the ear-less animals. 

Dean nodded and picked the sleeping girl up, along with the stuffed dog and carried her into her room. While he was gone, Ignacia sat down on the couch and picked up a patched-up bunny. Dean had a pretty decent job of mending the creature. When Dean came and sat back down, He pulled her into a hug. “And here you were worried she'd eat too much junk.”

She had a feeling he was about ready to cry, so she adjusted her arms so they were over his and kissed his cheek, pulling his chin up so he could look into her face and she could see he was fighting tears. “Is she okay? Did she hurt herself?” She looked at the animals and then back at him.

“No, only the animals were injured.” He did his best to straighten out his expression into one that was more calm.

“Are you okay?” She said,catching herself speaking Romanian and then repeating the question in English.

“I'm fine.” 

“Mincinos.” She said and then pulled him close, resting her chin on his head. Dean was about the furthest thing from fine. She rubbed at his back, like he was a little boy instead of a grown man. True, she'd been worried about the two of them getting along without her and what had happened was the last thing she'd expected. She shifted and lifted his chin, giving him a soft kiss. “I think you have played veterinarian enough for one night.”

Dean's tear-stained face broke into a grin. “My assistant fell asleep.”

Ignacia laughed and kissed him again. “And I'm about to do the same.” 

“I'll check everything, you get settled.” He stood up and headed for the kitchen. 

She got up as well, and after looking in on Liesel, got ready for bed. She was already under the covers when Dean came in, climbed in next to her and turned out the light. It was almost automatic the way his arm opened up, pulling her into his embrace and she rested her head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart under her ear. She wasn't sure how long she lay there, but she knew Dean wasn't asleep. She shifted and moved so she was resting her arms on him, her chin on her arms. 

“You need to sleep.” Dean's voice was quiet, but she could hear the pain in it. He didn't move to turn on the light, a clear indicator he wasn't in the mood to talk. 

She sighed and reached up, brushing her fingers across his forehead before leaning up and kissing him again. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” He returned the kiss and snuggled her closer to him, and she felt him relax. 

Ignacia wasn't entirely fooled; whatever happened had upset him a lot more than he was letting on. But it was late and she decided to let it go. She'd get a full report of this weekend's events tomorrow afternoon. She had a feeling a lot more had happened than Dean was willing to tell her right now. She vaguely thought of the patched-up animals lying in the other room. 

If only everything was that easy to fix.


End file.
